Some imagination and a splash of creativity….that is really what all of us need. It is imagination and creativity that sustains engagement in the library class. I’ve been thinking about this in recent weeks. Stories are magic. This we already know. But something has to be said about the consistent and continuing engagement that the children have in our classes.

It is, I think, these very 2 factors that resulted in a number of colourful kittens in the Std. 1 class of Auxilium primary School, Carona.

Tuesday morning, and we’re reading The Three Kittens, written and illustrated by Suteyev and published by Eklavya.; a delightful and simple book about three kittens;one white, one black and one grey; who get into situation after situation transforming themselves every time !

The kids loved the story! They were delighted to watch the kittens and anticipate what kind of trouble they would get into next, and what colour they were going to become.

When the time came for us to do the extension activity, the plan was simple. The little 1st graders were to colour the picture of one cat that we had stuck in the book, and draw 2 more; thus representing the 3 cats in the story book. Lastly they had to label the colours of the cats. Enter imagination and creativity…with a twist! In going around the class and assisting with spellings, helping with drawings, I began to see pink, green, yellow, orange….amongst the grey, black and white cats.

I asked a couple of children if they had seen kittens in those colours, and/or how the kittens became that colour. One boy was certain he had seen a yellow and green cat. A particularly orange kitten; I was told; had turned that colour by falling into a paint. A green and pink one had been thus coloured by the child with crayon. One brown cat, l learned, was actually white, but turned chocolate colour by rolling in mud. Ahhhh….the responses! The thoughts! The imagination!

I think its beautiful; this ability to think beyond the lines and the constraints. Liberating to let your mind free (and paint a cat green!) We need the spark…a little something that nudges us to think beyond. It’s been said that ‘storybooks are a uniquely portable magic’. It’s true! We see it everyday!

Have you read a storybook today? Try one for imagination and creativity.